Economic Development

City Planning

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Denver Healthy People 2020

Denver Healthy People 2020 organizes collaborative partnerships dedicated to making Denver a healthy place for all. The initiative, launched in 2001 as Denver Healthy People 2010 by the Denver Department of Environmental Health, outlined a set of guiding principles for building a healthier community in the report Healthy Denver 2010 - What We Know.

Denver Healthy People works by blending partnerships, best practices and health promotion to build actions for change. Starting in 2001 Denver Healthy People engaged residents and over 100 organizations in the Denver area to create the following list of six recommendations for improving the health of Denver residents. We encourage their use by health leaders and their partners and use them to guide our initiatives.

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Learn More

Denver Healthy People 2010: Analysis of Perceived Progress PDF- A Capstone project completed by Annie Jean Sanko for her master’s degree from the University of Colorado Denver, School of Public Affairs. July 26, 2010. This report explores the progress made among the Denver Healthy People key recommendations within the community at large since 2003 as perceived by health and community leaders in Denver and Colorado.

Grocery Initiative Report CoverToo many Coloradoans lack sufficient access to fresh, nutritious food. There are too few supermarkets and grocery stores in many areas throughout Colorado, including numerous low-income neighborhoods in Denver. The resulting lack of nutritious, affordable food imposes a significant toll on many of our communities, and undermines the health and well-being of children and families.

For this reason, the Denver Department of Environmental Health Denver Healthy People Program convened the Denver Food Access Task Force to identify ways to improve the quality and amount of affordable and nutritious food in parts of Denver with the greatest need. The task force includes representatives of the state’s major grocers, economic development professionals and food security advocates. The group presents recommendations for public policies that will improve the availability of affordable and nutritious food in underserved regions through the development of new supermarkets and food stores.

Grocery store development not only promotes health, but also offers economic benefits bringing dollars and jobs to our neediest neighborhoods. Economic development, jobs and health—results we can reach together through healthy food retail development!

The Denver Food Access Initiative grew out of advocacy for grocery stores carried out under the the Park Hill Thriving Communities Initiative. When efforts at the neighborhood level were unsuccessful in securing a grocery store for Park Hill, partners recognized that in order to move forward we needed to set policy that encouraged grocery retail development in Denver's needy communities. Denver Healthy People created a new partnership with The Food Trust, funded by the Colorado Health Foundation, to find innovative ways for encouraging healthy food retail development in Denver. The goal is to eliminate "food deserts" and increase access to grocery stores for all of Denver’s residents. The effort is based on successes across the country that have been led by The Food Trust.

Urban Gardening

Growing your own food is a great way to have easy access to healthy wholesome food. Gardening promotes outdoor activity and provies fresh food for you and your family. This page is intended to help gardeners from novice to advanced find resources to help grow a garden, distributive extra, or prepare raw vegetables into meals. The following is a short list of local Denver organizations working to promote urban gardening.

The Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council

Vision

The Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council’s (DSFPC) vision is to support a local food system that provides good, clean, fair food for all.

Mission

The Denver DSFPC influences policy that fosters food security for all community members, and promotes a healthy, equitable, and sustainable local food system, with consideration for economic vitality and environmental impact.

Purpose

The purpose of the Denver DSFPC is to build the capacity of local food policy bodies to find common ground on policy priorities, generate public support for those policies, educate policymakers on issues in our food system, and advocate for food systems that reflect the needs of all of its communities.